A/N I own nothing, also this will be heavy on the romance, and a lot of you will see why I hate writing it, cause I'm worse at writing that than anything else.
The Mother of Invention was not exactly the biggest ship in the UNSC's arsenal, in fact it was the smallest addition to Battlegroup Cranston. The largest ship within the small voyage class battlegroup was known as the Scepter, a prototype CAS-class assault carrier outfitted with its own artificial greenhouse and a store of food that could last the whole battlegroup about a year without having to resupply. One of the largest ships in the fleet at 5.7 kilometers it was not just the designated troop carrier with over 10000 marines aboard and a total of 15000 souls crewing on all decks, it was also the flag ship of the group, captained by none other than Commander Valerie Calisto.
Calisto was considered a prodigy among her peers, making rank at just under 30, impressive considering most would've died before ever making it as high. Most of her crew had a great respect for her that showed trough their exceptional ease while living inside a steal death trap floating through the vacuum of space. The only exception to this ease would be Calisto herself, constantly worrying about the state of her ship was stressing her to grey hairs every day of her life, though she could put on a good show for her crew so as to not have a breakdown in front of her men.
Another stress point would've been the other ships she was put in place to command, as well as their captains. First was the next largest ship after the Scepter, a CVS- battle cruiser called the Overlook, sitting at a clean 4 kilometers the ship could be rather intimidating. The ship itself could probably also serve as a troop carrier if it weren't specifically designed for ship-to-ship combat. Thing was it probably had more firepower than the Scepter itself, something its captain liked to remind Calisto of every chance he got. Captain Sio technically outranked Calisto in almost every way, he had more experience, a higher rank and a better fit ship under his command. Begrudgingly Calisto also had to admit the man was impressively good at taking command, even if he knew his place when in a combat scenario, he still liked to remind Calisto of how much more suited for the role of Battlegroup commander.
Next was the Paris class frigate known as the Heisenberg, 3000 kilometers and a rather small crew even for that size it was mainly used for vehicle storage and quick air to ground transport. The captain of said ship was the former XO Lt Commander Clint, a soft-spoken man with a good head on his shoulders and a rather easy attitude towards combat and rank, something Calisto had to reprimand him for on multiple occasions.
Last and certainly least was the Strident class Frigate calling the Mother of Invention. Perhaps the biggest pain in her ass since captain Sio, the one at the helm of this ship was a complete mystery to her. Apparently, it was some kind of research ship, though what it was researching must boggle the mind since they apparently can't provide any kind of combat support. Any time she has asked in the past all she got was a vague excuse about not risking a tier 0 asset. Not only that put the captain was never called by a name, only being referred to as the director. No rank, no surname and nothing to identify him by besides what he looks like.
Taking all this into account you can imagine how surprised she was to get a call for a meeting with said Director over holo.
"Commander" The thick monotone country accent greets over holo.
"Director, to what do I owe such a rare occasion?" She asks with sarcasm dripping through her voice.
"As you no doubt understand the mother of invention is not a normal ship" He states the obvious rather non-plussed "We have very little in the way of offense, something I believe frustrates you to no end"
She holds back a biting remark at that "I can't say you're wrong director, however I hope you can understand just how busy I am so-"
"-I should get to the point?" He interrupts with dry amusement clear in his voice "Don't worry I won't keep you long"
Calisto holds her tongue again and this time decides to remain silent and wait for him to finish.
"Our work aboard this ship is important, most likely one of the most important projects under humanity's belt" He pauses and gives a low sigh "As such I find myself in need of certain… assets that the UNSC has failed to affectively provide"
"Assets?" She asks in a biting tone.
"Specifically, another medical officer, we have only one and very few staff to assist" He explains
"You only have one doctor?" She asks in surprise.
"We have a rather small ship and a crew to go with it" He reasons in slight irritation "Though it seems our… research requires a better staffed hospice"
"Meaning?" She probes
"Meaning I need you to provide a medical officer for my crew" He explains.
"…." Calisto takes a moment to think before answering "And why would I pull an officer from their assigned post to work on a ship that contributes nothing to this battle group?"
"Because very soon we will be" He answers vaguely.
"What the hell does that even mean?" She asks in irritation.
"It means dear Commander, that one phone call to high command and I can have you removed from your position and thrown in the brig for negligence of duty" He threatens in a scarily calm tone.
"Negligence of duty?! On what grounds?!" She asks angrily.
"For failing to provide proper staffing to your subordinates Commander" He says as if they weren't talking about putting her ship's wellbeing at risk.
"Failing to- that would never stick, you were staffed by your own superiors and have yet to suffer a single reported casualty!" She yells out.
"Doesn't matter if it'll stick or not, you'll be pulled from command and placed under investigation, something that could take quite some time, especially with a war going on" He says slyly "Who knows what might happen with your ship placed under some new captain's command, might've even be a fresh academy grad with the way we're losing experienced officers"
"…" Calisto honestly didn't care what happened to her or her career, but her men… They had placed their trust in her and she couldn't betray that, even if it meant bending over for this asshole. "Fine, I'll get something ready" She grinds out.
"Good, have a good day Commander" the feed cuts and Calisto collapses her head into her arms.
"Shove it up your ass" She says muffled by her arms.
This war had taken its toll on everyone, both physically and mentally, especially on humanity's soldiers. It's because of this that every medical officer is required to have a psychology degree since psychiatrists were few and far between, and most soldiers don't want to actually go to a psych or even a Chaplain. Lt Commander Sarah Cantrin was no exception, taking all of her training to heart.
It was why she insisted she personally evaluate every one of her patients both physically and mentally. The request was met with little resistance as long as certain aspects of their medical records could be withheld. Dr. Cantrin didn't particularly like that but in her 50 years of life she had learned not to argue to much with the incognito types. She ran her hands through her shoulder length grey hair in frustration before pushing up her glasses and standing from her new desk.
When Commander Calisto had asked her to take this new posting she had nearly jumped for joy. Truthfully her eagerness was born from selfishness, not because she was afraid to be on the Scepter or happy to be away from the frontlines but because she knew the vast majority of her patients wouldn't be butchered on a weekly basis, she wouldn't be writing letters the Captain couldn't get to or trying to find spaces for bodies that didn't fit in the freezers, no more kids crying for her to help their friends when she knew there was nothing for it… She knew it was horrible of her, those people needed her and even if she knew that they were in good hands with Dr. Williams and Dr. Shell she couldn't help but feel guilty.
Letting out a slightly stressed sigh she walked to the door to let in her first patient. Looking down to her clipboard for the list she opened the door. Looking at those that had gathered in the seats around the waiting room the first thing that came to mind was how they all looked incredibly normal they looked for government test subjects. They were all in civies and sat with mostly relaxed postures and with the exception of some abnormal muscle mass she would've thought each of them were civilians waiting in a normal clinic. Honestly it was sort of a shock that sent the Dr. into a small flashback to when she was a normal clinical Dr., she stood stock still for a moment, and then she noticed some of them had started looking at her weirdly.
"Hem, sorry about that" she scratches the back of her head in embarrassment before schooling her features and looking down to her clipboard "Is.. Agent Carolina here?" She asks looking back up.
For a moment they all look around to each other with a wince.
"Lina doesn't usually do this type of thing, the director usually does her exams with the councilor and himself" A young blonde hair man says in an apologetic tone.
"Well she's on my list so the Director gave me permission to have her here" Dr. Cantrin says in a prompting tone. They all just kind of look at her weirdly before a shorter girl with shoulder length ash blonde hair stands up slowly.
"Sorry about that Doc, I'll just go grab her" She says in a nervous tone, backing out slowly. She is stopped however when the brunette woman seated next to her stands and softly grabs her wrist, staring intently at her face.
"You sure Wash?" She asks in a tight tone.
"Yea, best if I'm the one to go, sort of used to it at this point" She says her tone not exactly reassuring the brunette.
"Hey, lord knows I won't stop you" a man with light brown hair says leaning back further in his seat. The Brunette turns to him with a look, making him sit forward and rest his head on his palm, looking away with a whistle.
"I'll be fine Connie, besides… Maybe she's in a good mood?" The blonde reasons with an unsure shrug.
"Heh, well if she is that'll change quickly" A dirty blonde girl with a pixie cut says beside the blonde man. She gets a look from the Brunette as well, only for her to give a shrug and a smirk.
"… I'll be back with the boss in a bit Doc" The blonde girl says with an earnest smile.
"Thank you" She says with a smile as the girl leaves quickly.
"So who's next Doc?" The brown haired man asks nonchalantly.
"Uhh" She looks to her list "Agent New York" She calls out and looks up.
"That'd be me" The brown haired man stands up with a smirk. He walks to Dr Cantrin, and she opens the door more for him. They both enter the exam room and she has him sit on the sterilized bed.
"Right let's get started agent" She says walking over to her pile of files. She digs to the second one in the stack and opens it up, turning to the man giving the file a quick once over to refresh her memory.
"Say Doc?" He asks to get her attention.
Not looking up she tells him "My name is Lt Commander Cantrin, but you can just call me Dr. Cantrin" She says sternly, still looking down at the file.
"Right, Dr. Cantrin?" He corrects slightly embarrassed.
"Yes Agent?" She asks looking up from the file and pulling out a pen.
"This isn't going to be a… Turn your head and cough scenario right?" He asks slightly red-faced.
"Afraid not agent, I'm just getting the lay of the land, asking some questions about your file, how exactly your doing both physically and mentally" She states turning to grab her notepad from the counter on the other side of the room.
"Mentally?" He asks curiously.
She turns to him and raises an eyebrow "Yes mentally, why?" She asks.
"Well, it's just, Dr. Connors only handles the medical side of things, and normally any of our mental tests are handled by the counselor" he says with a head scratch.
"Well, I'm afraid that's not how I do things, everyone's going through something so it's important to make sure everyone is mentally up to their task as well as physically" She states with a small smile.
"…Right" He says slowly, seeming to not completely believe her.
"We can hold off on that if that's what you want?" She asks slowly.
"No no just….. not used to that kind of thinking" He let's out.
"Well it's shared among a great many of my peers, who exactly is this Dr. Connors?" she asks incredulously.
"Eh just the guy who does our monthly physicals, not much of a surgeon though" He grumbles out mostly to himself.
"What do you mean" She asks in a serious tone, leaning back against her counter.
"Well about a month ago Wash got a pretty deep cut in her leg, don't think it was anything too serious but that's not the point. Point is Dr. Connors had no idea how to stitch it up and none of assistants were on shift to help so Wash just grabbed some of her stitches from her bathroom and had me do the job" He explains with a sort of fond tone.
"Wash?" She asks.
"Yea, Agent Washington. She was the one who went to grab Lina" He explains with a smile.
"Sound like your fond of her" She probes making a mental note to write this down. In her experience people tended to be looser with their feelings when you weren't writing notes down every time, they said something.
"Yea, she's kinda like a little sister, though sometimes she acts more mature than the rest of us" He explains in a fond tone.
"Yea? So she's like that with everyone?" She asks.
"Well, not everyone. The exceptions being Maine and Connie" He explains shortly though continues when she gives him a prompting look "Well uh, Maine can't really speak, part of an injury back before he was on the Mother of Invention, but somehow Wash always seems to know what he's trying to say. Anyway Maine's mostly a loner but he always seemed so… well not soft but definitely seems to like her more than everyone else"
"And… Connie?" She recalls.
"Well, uh" he looks nervous all of a sudden.
"Anything you say stays between us" She explains softly.
He gives a slight nod "Well they are kind of together" He explains.
"Oh" She says slightly surprised.
"Yea, I mean it's not really a problem with the rest of us but nobody really talks about it since the Director has some pretty strict Frat regs" He explains.
"Alright" She says clicking her pen.
"Wait you're not going to write that down right?" He asks quickly.
"No, like I said, stays between us" She says, smiling as he lets out a relieved sigh.
"Good, so what now?" He asks with a smirk now sitting on his face.
"Now we move onto some questions" She says pulling her notepad up "Now first question, are you sexually active?"
"Heh, always Doc" He answers with a sly smirk, though it falters when Cantrin gives him an unimpressed look "Hem, not at the moment"
She gives him a small smirk before writing the answer down.
Agent Carolina was in a very good mood. She had managed to get all of her paperwork from the team's training eval done and sent into the councilor, actually got to finish her morning workout without getting interrupted by some idiot breaking this or that and had yet to run into CT all day. idiot breaking this or that and had yet to run into CT all day. Yep, it's been a good day so far, so she was celebrating with some evening training on the obstacle course system PHLSS had just updated.
However, her good mood was suddenly ruined when she heard the entrance open and PHLSS automatically closed out the obstacle course. The moveable equipment sinking back into the floor for storage, leaving Carolina standing in the middle of an empty training room shaking in her armor with irritation. Then she hears the footsteps…
"Wash" She greets in a low tone without turning to face her. Her irritation slightly washing away with the girl's presence.
"Heh, one day you gotta teach me how to do that" She says with a laugh.
'Not likely' she thinks to herself, wondering how embarrassing it'd be if she admitted that she had memorized the pattern of Wash's footsteps. "What do you want Wash?" She says with a slightly calmer tone than she intended.
"Wow, you're in a good mood" She says with a smile as Carolina turns to face her outside of her armor.
"Sigh, Wash you know you're supposed to be wearing armor whenever you're on the training floor" She reprimands in a snapped tone.
"Ok a really good mood" She says still smiling. Carolina gives her a head tilt in question "You still haven't yelled at me" She says in a slightly smug tone.
"Are you saying you want me to yell at you?" She asks in a warning tone, crossing her arms and growing irritated again.
"Eh, no" She says dropping the smile and rubbing the back of her head and looking to her feet "I just meant it's good to see you not as stressed for once"
She loosens up again at that dropping her arms to her sides Wash looks back up to her "What is it Wash?" She asks in a monotone voice.
"Well you see, the new Doctor wants to see you for an evaluation" She says in a slightly nervous tone.
"Hmph, did you tell her that the Director and the Counselor do my Evals?" She asks walking passed Wash with a scoff.
"I mean, Yes?" She answers.
Carolina stops at that "And?"
"She says she got permission from the Director" She says bashfully.
"What!?" She yells in anger, whipping around to face the shorter girl again. Wash flinches for at her movement but just like always doesn't seem afraid, not like the others, not like York…
"Yeeeaah" She drawls out in a shaky tone. Wash is looking away from her again…
Carolina softens at her uncomfortable stature before sighing slowly and turning around towards the locker room "I'll meet you outside the locker room" she says in resignation.
"Wait really?" Wash asks in surprise. In response Carolina turns and gives her a look through her visor, making Wash backtrack "I mean uhh" She says intelligently, making Carolina turn with an unseen smirk "Yea see you out there boss" Carolina decides not to respond, instead thinking shortly of how cute Wash looked when she was surprised.
"Well Agent South, I'll be sure to bring up your concerns with Dr. Connors when I finally meet him" She grinds out in irritation, holding the door open for the rather rude girl.
"Yea, good idea" She remarks in sarcasm as she leaves.
Dr. Cantrin lets out a sigh and pushes her glasses back up to her face before looking at her list and seeing that next would've been Washington, but she wasn't here so it would have to be Connecticut. Though as she looks up to call her name, she sees that Washington had returned, taking her original seat next to Connecticut. There was also a new addition, a rather beautiful redhead who seemed slightly taller than the other woman, she could only assume this was Carolina. However, as she was watching she noticed a slight tension in the room between Connecticut and Carolina as they glared across the room at each other. Washington on the other hand was seemingly oblivious and was far too focused on something on her Holopad.
"Agent Carolina?" She calls, breaking everyone out of their respective trances.
The redhead stands silently and walks towards her without a word, Cantrin opens the door more to let her in silently. As Carolina walks passed her, she looks to the last two occupants in the room and gives them a smile that Wash returns happily, Connecticut on the other hand frowns and turns away. Ignoring that Cantrin turns and closes the door behind her.
"So you're a bit of a special case since pretty much all of your file is black ink I'll have to be asking quite a few more questions" She explains as the woman takes a seat on the newly sterilized bed "So, if there are any questions you can't answer, just let me know and we'll skip over it"
"Hm" She hums in understanding, keeping her features unreadable.
"…Hem, right let's get started" She opens her notepad and clicks her pen "First question, have you ever had any major surgeries?"
"…Yes" She answers in a monotone voice.
"Ok" She writes the answer "Are you allowed to tell me specifics?"
"No" She answers in the same tone.
"Ok" She crosses out the question "Are you sexually active?"
"No" No reaction, still stone-faced and monotone.
"Alright, have you had any recent pains or sickness?" She asks with a small smile.
"I don't get sick" She says in a tone that almost sounds proud, the ghost of a smile on her lips.
"Really? Well maybe you don't it's not particularly uncommon nowadays" She muses out loud "However, my medical opinion is that everyone can get hurt, therefore everyone can get sick, so please just answer the question" She says in a commanding tone.
The ghost drops quickly into a frown and Carolina pauses for a moment "…No" She grinds out.
"Hm" She writes down the answer and moves on.
"Are we almost done here?" She asks impatiently.
"Nope, like I said there's a lot I need answered" She explains, hearing Carolina let out an almost imperceptible sigh "Now, how physically active are you?"
"Very" She says vaguely. Cantrin however gives her a look to clarify and for a moment Cantrin could swear her eyes had widened in surprise "I'm usually working out everyday of the week with the exception of Saturday"
"Hm" She starts writing the answer "And what do you usually do on these Saturdays?"
"Catch up on paperwork" She answers nonchalantly.
"Have you ever been diagnosed with anxiety or depression?" She asks still writing in her notes.
"…." She looks up from her notes and sees some hesitation, realizing what that entails she filed it in one of her many mental notes of the day and moved on.
"Any diseases related to heart, lungs or blood?" She asks.
"…No" She answers giving her a confused look "Why did you…"
Cantrin looks up from her notes again and raises an eyebrow "I told you if you can't tell me something then we'll just skip it"
"But I didn't say-" She tries in irritation.
"You didn't have to" She explained in a calm tone.
Carolina looks at her in shock for a moment, before that shock turns to rage. Wordlessly the woman stands with anger written allover her face as she stalks towards the door. Cantrin doesn't look when the door is slammed closed behind her.
Cantrin lets out a tired sigh, knowing she probably should've expected that reaction. She must have seemed so pretentious to that woman, talking like she knew exactly what was wrong with her. Truth is Cantrin only wanted to hold off on such a conversation until she had built up a repour with her.
Well hopefully she'd be back to finish her exam, until then it was time for Washington.
Connie was incredibly tense. Wash had seen her stressed before, but this was… different, as for why she was acting like this, well Wash could only guess. Connie had always been a loner, she was quiet and reserved and made her dislike for most people very apparent, especially with Carolina. Though that one made a lot of sense, Carolina and Connie were both very reserved, but their mentalities were very different.
Connie was reserved mostly because of her very vocal dislike of all things ONI, and since they were on an ONI ship crewed by ONI staff and run by one of the most egotistically scary government spooks in existence, well let's just say Wash understood her reasoning.
Carolina on the other hand was simply a very hard individual. She was hard to please, hard to get along with, hard to talk to and most of all hard to work with. Many of the other freelancers had a problem with her attitude, but Wash had spent a lot of time with some very… Intense marines, so it wasn't exactly something she hadn't seen before. After all most of the Freelancers on the mother of invention had never been in the military before now. And despite her faults Carolina had proven herself to Wash as an effective leader and combat expert.
There was a… Mutual respect between them, Carolina never tried to doubt Wash's abilities even if she wasn't exactly the best freelancer and Wash had Lina's back as a leader. This respect however wasn't shared between Connie and Lina, constantly butting heads over training exercises and in classes. Honestly it exasperated Wash to no end, especially when both of them were usually rather rational minded.
That being said, Wash could never really say she had seen Connie nervous, not truly anyway. Sure there was the nervous jitters during some of their more dangerous exercises and right before a test she wasn't exactly prepared for, but this was different. In her two years aboard the Mother of Invention, Wash could honestly say she's never seen Connie shaking in anticipation.
"Connie are you ok?" She asks softly.
"I'm fine Wash just" She pauses looking away from her girlfriend "Never been one for doctors"
Wash raises an eyebrow at that "Really? You were never like this with Connors"
"Connors is the UNSC's oversight, he's not even a real doctor" Connie says lowly "The only reason he's here is to make sure that Freelancer delivers their promised super soldiers"
Wash rolls her eyes and gives her an unseen smile, given she's still looking away "So what? The guy still does all our medical treatment, not to mention his iron grip on our medical records, honestly I'm kinda surprised that guys ego allowed for another doctor aboard"
"First of all" Connie starts turning to Wash with a light smile on her lips "York does way more medical treatment then that hack" And the smile drops to a frown, she then slowly turns away again "Second, it wouldn't even be his call. The Director has the final say on all staff aboard, and that's what has me worried"
Wash gives her a confused look "What's that supposed to mean?"
"…." Connie stays silent at that, turning her head even more from Wash.
"Connie, you know you can-" She reaches to touch her shoulder, only to be interrupted by a door slamming open, making them both jump and look up to see a very tense Carolina stalk out of the exam room, hiding her face from the two of them.
Wash watches her walk out the door and her first instinct is to follow, only to remember Connie's situation and halt in her advance. She turns to her girlfriend with an apologetic look, one that is returned by a slightly irritated Connie, before said irritation visibly melts away.
"Go" She says simply.
"…Are you sure?" Wash asks hesitantly.
"Yea, just go" She gives a not so reassuring smile "I'll be fine"
Wash pauses for a moment before making up her mind. She slowly sits back down in her seat and leans her head on Connie's shoulder "Naw, I'll talk to her later"
Connie remains silent but Wash can feel her tension melt away as she puts an arm around Wash's shoulders. Wash simply closes her eyes and waits for the contentment to end, yet for once things are actually silent.
The exam room door opens and Wash opens her eyes, quickly sitting up as Connie whips her arm away from her shoulders.
An older looking Woman, somewhere in her mid 50s emerges from the room. Her short grey hair is tied back in a small tail, and her glasses have a silver chain connecting to each end. If it weren't for the stark white lab coat Wash would've pegged her for a librarian.
"Agent Washington?" She calls looking up from her clipboard with a smile.
"That's me Ma'am" She says slowly, standing and stalking to the door. The doctor gestures for her to follow inside as she leaves the door slightly open for her to catch. As she reaches the door she stops for a moment and turns her head to a rather somber looking Connie, she waits a moment for her to look up and gives her a wink and a smirk. Connie just silently laughs as Wash enters happy for the acknowledgement.
"Hello Agent, my name is Doctor Cantrin" The old woman says gesturing for her to take a seat on a stereotypical clinic bed.
"Hello Doctor" She says with a smile as she slowly takes her seat.
"Now normally I would start with a question about your health and general wellness but you're a bit of a special case" She says with a light smile while taking a seat in front of Wash.
"Special case?" She asks in confusion.
"Yes, it says in your file you were diagnosed with a severe Cleithrophobia and scopophobia" She says in a curious tone "Something that would get anyone else discharged at the drop of a hat, yet here you are"
Wash feels her blood freeze as her whole body tenses "What exactly are you asking Doctor"
The doctor suddenly seems to notice her comfortability and her features soften considerably into an apologetic smile "I'm sorry agent, I didn't mean to accuse you. I was just confirming that these diagnosis are affirmative"
Wash hesitates for a moment but calms herself down "It's uh.. it's fine, yea those files are right"
"Alright" She says slowly, writing in her notes quietly "Now let's start with the exam"
"Sure" She says still a little uncomfortable.
"Now, are you sexually active?"
And now it was worse.
Carolina had always enjoyed firearms, her mother used to take her every time she came home, it was like clockwork. Her father on the other hand hated her preference to firearms over martial arts, something she had grown to resent. Though since her mother died she had decided focusing on martial arts might bring her that bit closer to her last family. This mentality hasn't exactly worked but it's not exactly a habit she's able to break at this point.
Hand to hand made her angry, frustrated. It got her blood pumping and made for an easy distraction from her troubles. Firearms on the other hand, gave her a sense of calm that she wouldn't be able to achieve any way else. It made her think of her mother and all the times she had forgot to say goodbye.
Most people wouldn't think to look for her here, with the exception of a few. Her father hated seeing her at a range, probably made him think of his wife. York had been avoiding her for over a year now so he wouldn't even think to come here unless he was sure she wasn't there. Those were the only two she could think of, which is why she is now confused that she heard the entrance to the range open and didn't see any other barrels on the firing line.
Curious, Carolina finished up the last mag in her M6D pistol and locked back the slide before placing it on the counter in front of her removing the mag in a practiced motion. Slowly she removes her ear muffs and looks to who came to find her.
"Hey" Wash says with a nervous smirk and a small wave.
Carolina is surprised and for a moment let's that surprise slip onto her face before replacing it with indifference "Wash"
"Boss" She says slowly.
"What are you doing here?" She asks lowly.
"Well isn't it obvious?" She asks nervously, getting an eyebrow raise from Carolina "Uhh, I'm here to practice?" She says unconvincingly.
"Really?" Carolina asks with the ghost of a smile on her lips.
Wash seems surprised for a moment before confirming "Yeeeaaah"
"Right, then where's your piece" She poses it as a question but her tone makes it sound like a statement.
"Uhhh" She puts eloquently as she rubs the back of her head in embarrassment.
"Sigh, how did you know I was here Wash?" She asked squeezing the bridge of her nose.
"…. I might've asked PHLSS if she knew where you were" She explains looking away from the team leader.
"You-you what?" She asks in unhidden shock.
"…." Wash just gives a shrug.
"So let me get this straight" Carolina says with a glare "You violated my privacy" She takes a step towards the shorter woman "Lied to me" another step "And not even convincingly" she's almost right in front of her "And then you told me about it?" She asks in genuine confusion now standing directly in front of her looking down at a nervous Wash looking anywhere but at her eyes.
"Is it really violating your privacy if you're in a place that's open to anyone aboard?" She asks slowly.
"…." Carolina silently stares at her for a moment before turning back to her pistol and beginning to pack up her things.
"Wait, wait Boss c'mon we need to talk" She pleas from behind her, making Carolina only work faster.
"Fine then talk" She says still working on the case lock.
"Uhm, ok" She says "Well I saw you walk out- well stomp out of the exam room and just… Figured you might want to talk about it"
That made her stop. People didn't want to talk to her, not about her feelings or her problems, they only wanted either advice or to ridicule her and sometimes in the same breath. Even when she was with York he didn't exactly like talking about what made Carolina upset, so why the hell did Wash want to.
"Why the hell do you want to talk?" She snaps out without turning.
"…Because I was worried about you" She says slowly.
Worried? And just like that Carolina's anger inexplicably melts away. She doesn't know how but Wash always seems to have that effect on her, sometimes it's just her mere presence.
"… I think I might have a problem" She says hesitantly, still not turning to face her.
"Yea?" She asks in a somber tone "Do you want to talk about it?"
"…Yea"